Parker Isn't Beautiful
by Halle Alexis
Summary: Parker is a lot of things, but the first word most people would choose to describe her wouldn't be beautiful and maybe not even pretty, but Eliot has been finding himself looking at Parker in a different light recently... P/E without any set time period, but probably around the first season.


**Hey guys! So, this is my first piece of Leverage fanfiction and I would love to hear what you think. I know it's short, but I got this idea for a oneshot after my mom watched an episode with me and I told her I really liked the idea of Parker and Eliot together and she said that Parker wasn't all that pretty. I thought that even though she isn't exceptionally beautiful in the way a lot of people would normally look for, she is in other ways. So, let me know...**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Leverage or anything associated with it. **

Parker Isn't Beautiful

Parker isn't beautiful. She isn't even really pretty.

Not in that way that makes people stop and take notice. Which is why the first time she stops Eliot in his tracks he doesn't know what to make of it. Although Eliot Spencer is no stranger to pretty women, even the ones who are a little more rough around the edges instead of polished, he's never thought of Parker that way. She doesn't care very much about hair or makeup or clothes and while it makes Sophie huff in exasperation, her ideal shopping spree is for ropes and harnesses. But maybe this is what makes her so different. Maybe. Or maybe it's just that _something _about Parker and there's no other way to describe it.

So the first time Eliot looks at Parker and sees her differently she's not doing anything special. In fact, she's doing what he's seen her do a hundred times before; she's in the kitchen with the rest of the team while he's making dinner after a job. And then she's hopping up on the counter next to where he's chopping vegetables and laughing at something Hardison's said. And that's when he thinks it happens, even though he isn't really sure what _it _is. So he just laughs with her and thanks God again for being lucky enough to have these people in his life, brushes it off and goes back to his stir fry.

The next time Parker makes his breath catch in his throat, and not because she's crazy, but maybe in spite of it, they're alone on the roof of the tallest hotel in Los Angeles. She's checking and rechecking their gear, harnesses, lines, even the wind. And everything is perfectly normal right up until they get the go ahead from Nate and they're going over the edge of the building together.

With the wind whipping through her hair and the air rushing in his ears Eliot thinks he's never seen anything quite so gorgeous.

She's fearless, but then Parker usually is, so what catches him more off guard is the expression of pure ecstacy on her face. Her cheeks are all flushed and her eyes are full of light and she's smiling. Really smiling, like there's nothing in the world she would rather be doing. And it hits him then that there probably isn't, because she had told him once that it made her feel like she was flying. Eliot thinks that this must be the freest she's ever felt, these moments in the free fall, and her insane exhilaration at the jump makes _him _want to smile the same way she's smiling.

And strangely enough, it makes him think there's nothing in the world he'd rather be doing at the moment either because he gets to experience her this way. Free and vulnerable and completely herself.

This time that feeling in his stomach is more pronounced and he knows he's in trouble, because it doesn't just fade away as quickly as it came like it did the first time. Worse, he's not sure he wants it to.

Considering the feeling hasn't really gone away, always just sort of there under the surface in the back of his mind, Eliot isn't all that surprised when it comes back and knocks him sideways again as it has various times over the past few months since that first encounter. However, the thing that does surprise him is the overwhelming urge to push her up against the closest available, stable surface and kiss her senseless.

Because really, when did _that _happen?

She's taken up the habit of joining him when he works out and after spending the morning alternately sparring with him and watching him take on the punching bag over a bowl of cereal they decide to finish off with what has become a nearly daily run.

And it's not the way she moves or the way she looks in her workout clothes. It's not the way she teases him in complete seriousness or the way she challenges him, impresses him or makes him want to be the person she sees when she looks at him. Even though all of those things and more pull at him, they aren't what brings it on.

What does though, is watching her fling herself to the ground and thinking of her flinging herself at him. What does is seeing her sprawl out on the grass with all those long limbs and lithe body, her chest heaving and her eyes scrunched against the harsh light of the summer day.

Then, just for a minute, the sunlight catches in all that pale hair and she glows with her peaches and cream complexion and soft lips. That's when he gets it, really gets what _it _is.

Parker isn't beautiful. Not that grabs your attention beauty or that simple, classic kind of beauty.

She isn't even really pretty. Not in that girl-next-door or diamond in the rough way.

No, that isn't Parker, but Parker is just absolutely Parker and Eliot knows now that every time he looks at her he's going to see it. She's just crazy enough to pull him in like no one else ever has. She's just strong enough and smart enough to make him respect the childlike innocence and vulnerability he sees in her. She's perfect in all of her imperfections.

It's in the way her nose crinkles up when she laughs, really, honestly laughs.

It's in the way she smiles in mid-air, all free and alive and so undeniably excited about it.

It's in the way the sunlight dances in her hair and makes him want to run his fingers through it.

So Eliot isn't nearly as surprised as he probably should be when she smiles up at him and suddenly, no one else will do.


End file.
